(via Briefly Noted)

The winning filmmaker will receive a ONE week theatrical run in LA complete with PR, street team and social media support, as well as a mentoring session with an established director and/or producer.

20 films will be granted the opportunity to receive a direct digital access package to outlets such as Hulu, iTunes, Netflix etc. courtesy of WBP Award partner IndieFlix.

The final films will be reviewed by a panel consisting of well-established directors, producers, actors and film critics.

Reminds me that ski season is coming up – something I never forget even though I’m stuck in the city these days! Boy, I hope to get out and do some deep powder this winter. But, don’t worry, Ma, I won’t get into this sort of mess. I hope.

(via NewTeeVee)

While I was up at All Tomorrow’s Parties hanging out with the Criterion Collection crew and helping them run the show in the make-shift festival cinema at Kutcher’s, I had the incredible experience of getting to sit at the feet of a master: Jim Jarmusch. I was chatting with Barry, a rep for Panasonic moments before the Q&A started and as Jim walked to the front, Barry handed me a yet-to-be released brand-spankin’ new out of the box HD camera (sorry, I can’t remember the model) and said “Here, help me shoot this!” And so I did!

It was one hell of a great Q&A and I highly recommend that you click through and watch some of these vids. Wayne Coyne makes a cameo and Jim’s thoughts on cinema and art and music are some of the most eloquent I’ve heard.

These guys are doing a whole lot of right. Pants that reflect when you roll the cuffs? Sign me up.

Lemme esplain: say you’re planning a big life-changing travel trip – like a year in India or something – you sit there with your airline tickets all reserved and ready and you know you’re about to spend thousands of dollars and have untold wild adventures in unknown lands, yet you sit, hesitating over the mouse with your finger slightly raised and beads of sweat building around your temples.

Nervously, you finger the button, but don’t push it. You’re flirting with it. You get up, have another cup of coffee. You sit back down and the ‘complete transaction’ icon stares you in the face, but so does the ‘close browser’ button. The action to commit is so clear – just *push the button* – make friends with the unknown future, extend your hand, embrace it. And then, finally, once you do, you’ve crossed to the other side. Take a deep breath. You’ve committed and there’s no turning back. But it feels damn good. You’re all in.

Rare are the opportunities in life as clear as this. Go with it.

The Hardcourt Bicycle Polo Federation World Championships are happening this weekend directly across the street from my house here in Philly! I’ll be able to watch from my bedroom if I wanted.

(via sarahspy)

I already posted this on my music blog yvynyl but I gotta share with all y’all who don’t read that (yet!). This is the new music video from my pals Free Energy. The vid was directed by m ss ng p eces and shot on location at the dudes’ house party earlier this summer. I’m really in love with this song and the video – and well, as I said on yvynyl:

Philly + bikes + summertime + my neighborhood + cute kittens + my buddies’ band + a great house party + cameos of dozens of my friends (damn, i didn’t make the cut!) + one kick-ass party song makes this my favorite music video of the week. Then again, I’m biased.

The Design for Life blog posted absolutely brilliant, simple instructions for creating your own yard torches. Say goodbye to all those crappy tikis stuck in the mud. Just be careful you don’t burn your house down…

I’m absolutely going to make a few of these for my lil’ backyard patio. Yay, fun house project!

It’s true that I do love the Ford Fiesta I’ve been driving around for the past couple of months, but my favorite car of all time has to be a yellow Honda Civic circa 1980. Not sure why, but it’s always held a big ol’ soft spot in my heart. My neighbor had one when I was a kid and I just loved the look and sound of that machine. Ever since then, I’ve always gone for cars with crazy colors and a hatchback.

(via The New York Times – For Honda in America, 50 Years of Going Its Own Direction)

Much to my delight, a great new restaurant – Elevation Burger – just opened within a few steps of my work. So this place, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit, is a chain. However, it’s a very small (~10 restaurants and growing) chain with organic fast food, baby! I know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron, but if you can bury away your inner ideologue, you’re going to totally enjoy it. 100% organic, grass-fed beef burgers make eating ‘em just all that much less guilt-ridden. Plus, they have some killer vegan and veggie burger options and olive oil-fried french fries. Add on super friendly kids working there and a clean, well-designed aesthetic and you’ve got a combo for one hell of a cool burger joint. Check ‘em out.

My friend Lance Weiler has been working hard on a new project where creative people meetup and discuss the future of multi-platform story telling, open-source media making and cutting-edge technologies in the creative industries.

DIY Days will be in Philadelphia, happening on August 1st at University of the Arts. But if you’d like to get a jump start on the action, there will be a pre-party and creative meetup on July 8th.

The pre-party details:

Wednesday, July 8 :: 7-11pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Presented by the WorkBook Project and PIFVA
$5 at the door or FREE for PIFVA members

Special performances by
* SCIENTISTS ARE THE NEW ROCKSTARS

* CHIEF WRECKEM’s ORGANS vs TURNTABLES

* Speed power points presentations about
the FUTURES OF ENTERTAINMENT.

* PLUS a number of targeted NETWORKING SESSIONS to help you meet others who are making creative work in PHILLY.

Recently, I discovered Atlas Obscura, “a compendium of this age’s wonders, curiosities, and esoterica.” It speaks to my heart:

The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If you’re looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you’ll find them.

 
This guide is simply full of some of the most incredible stuff. For example, one of the entries in Pennsylvania, mere miles from where I went to high school, was totally unknown to me until now. How had I never heard of this place before!? It’s called The Sonorous Stones of Ringing Rocks Park, basically a field of musical, ringing boulders in the middle of the woods. Incredible.

[photo: David Hanauer]

Here in Philadelphia, you’ll find a number of odd spots, including the Shrine of Saint John Neuman. I’m going to have fun exploring (and contributing to!) this outstanding project. Lord Whimsy, you must be all over this already, yes?